FRA opens small grant pool for shortlines

A year after Congress told
federal regulators to issue $20 million in grants to help short line railroads
recover from storm damages, the Federal Railroad Administration is ready to
make the final $5 million of those funds available, the Journal of Commerce
reported.

In an Oct. 7 Federal
Register notice, the agency said it would start taking applications 10 days
after that filing to help small freight railroads pay for repairs from Jan. 1,
2008 through the date of the federal notice.

The money may be spent on
railroad rights-of-way, bridges, track signals and other infrastructure,
provided the damage came from storms or other natural events in counties that
were declared by the president to be disaster areas.

The move to establish a
special pool of emergency grants for shortlines came out of the sudden flood
disruptions that struck Iowa and several other Midwestern states in June 2008. It
left behind many miles of twisted track and washed out rail bridges. While large
Class 1 railroads quickly invested in repairs and had their networks back up
and running, some short lines could not afford to fix costly infrastructure on
their own. A few of those repairs are just now being completed.

By the time the measure
passed Congress on Sept. 30, 2008 -- as part of the same legislation that
authorized a massive bailout of the financial system by the treasury secretary
-- more storms had struck and railroads in more regions were seeking help.

Last May, the FRA
distributed $15 million of the grant pool among 12 rail projects, but held back
the rest until now. To qualify, applicants must find other ways to cover 20
percent of the costs, and the FRA said they "must exhaust all other
federal and state resources prior to seeking assistance under this
program."